Conventional systems for processing particles rely on a number of separate, unintegrated components that are separately manufactured and assembled on site. Such conventional systems are unwieldy, and may suffer from potential contamination problems.
For example, in conventional particle sorting systems, the particles or cells to be sorted are suspended (the suspension) in a liquid medium that passes through a collection of reservoirs, tubes, chambers, nozzles, and/or fittings (collectively referred to herein as “fluid contact surfaces”). In conventional high-speed optical sorters, the suspension passes through a nozzle and is formed into a stream of droplets (the aerosol phase) before being captured in destination chambers. That droplet stream (aerosol) touches or contaminates any area within the system that is not explicitly sealed away from the stream, as it is difficult to otherwise guarantee that stray or improperly formed aerosol will not spatter in all directions. For this purpose all surfaces that are not explicitly sealed off from the aerosol phase are considered part of the “fluid contact surfaces.”
In many applications that employ particle sorting and other particle processing, in particular clinical applications or pre-clinical research, it is important to ensure “operator isolation” and/or “product isolation”. Operator isolation refers to protecting the operator from exposure to the particle suspension, for example, when there is a possibility of infectious disease agents existing within the suspension. Product isolation refers to isolation of the suspension from contamination with traces from outside the suspension, including contamination from the environment or from prior suspensions that have passed through the sorting system.
Conventional sorting systems and other particle processing systems require operation in sealed environmental chambers to provide operator isolation. However, these types of systems are difficult to service with manual operations. Conventional systems require either replacement or cleaning of all of the fluid contact surfaces in order to guarantee product isolation and the manual steps required to dismantle, clean, or replace conventional fluid contact surfaces represent a risk of breaking operator isolation.